Shaffer has the edge in 4th CD race

Posted:
10/19/2012 08:10:24 PM MDT

Reporter-Herald Editorial

Voters in the 4th Congressional District are lucky to have a couple of solid candidates to choose from.

The district, newly reconfigured, all of Weld County -- areas just south and east of Loveland -- much of the city of Longmont and much of the Eastern Plains. It is currently represented by Cory Gardner, a Yuma Republican who has been a strong advocate for many of the issues his constituents care about. He opposes increased taxes, calls for limited government, supports NISP -- the Northern Integrated Supply Project, a water storage project -- and pushes for energy production of all sorts, including wind power and oil and gas.

Gardner's main challenger is Brandon Shaffer, a Democrat from Longmont who is currently president of the Colorado Senate. As Senate president, Shaffer presided over a sometimes fractious body with diverse political views, but he proved himself worthy of his own appeals to bipartisanship in the General Assembly. It is that kind of bipartisanship that, perhaps more than anything, is needed in Washington. Congress has broken down in ideological rigidity, and partisan opposition now functions as a matter of principle, not as a means to govern the American people. The country can't afford more of that kind of government.

That's one of the reasons we endorse Shaffer in the 4th Congressional District race.

For residents west of Interstate 25, the matter is also personal. Voters of all political persuasions, whether they agree on this or that policy, recognize in Shaffer a capable leader who has consistently represented the region well. His work in the state Senate indicates he'll do the same as a member of the House of Representatives, and his bio adds to the impression that he can effectively represent everyone in the 4th District, both in the cities and the plains. He's a third-generation Coloradan who put himself through Stanford University on a scholarship from the Navy ROTC program. He served as an officer in the Navy and made two deployments to the Persian Gulf.

We do not have serious complaints about Gardner's term in office. It's just that the promise of Shaffer's candidacy outweighs Gardner's accomplishments.